Showing results by author "John French" in All Categories

Driven almost to the brink of self-destruction at Isstvan V, the Iron Hands now seek vengeance for the murder of their primarch Ferrus Manus. Gathering survivors from the Raven Guard and the Salamanders aboard any vessels capable of warp travel, these Shattered Legions wage a new campaign of annihilation against the traitor forces across the galaxy - a campaign masterminded by legendary warleader Shadrak Meduson.

For more than 200 years, the armies of the Emperor of Mankind fought to reconquer the galaxy - led by the superhuman primarchs, the Space Marine Legions brought countless worlds back under the rule of ancient Terra. Now Horus, once honoured Warmaster and favoured son of the Emperor, has been corrupted by the whispered promises of Chaos. At his command the Imperium is torn apart by a terrible and bloody civil war, the likes of which the galaxy has never seen.

The Sabbat War is a savage Imperial crusade, cutting a bloody, burning path across a vast swathe of the Imperium's lost territory. On the front line, the stalwart regiments of the Astra Militarum, including the valiant Tanith First-and-Only—better known as Gaunt’s Ghosts—confront the relentless menace of Chaos, the Archenemy of Mankind. There is, and ever will be, only war.

Darkness approaches Dominicus Prime, a literal Season of Night that brings with it portents, madness and strange happenings. Standing alone as a beacon against the darkness is the Monastery of the Last Candle, a temple to the holy light of the Emperor. As the bishops and the cardinals vie for power and influence, a crisis looms among the Pilgrim Drift who are starving in their droves. Discord is rife, and there are whispers of a rising cult, one committed to blood and horror.

Becalmed in the backwater Phall system, the Imperial Fists' relief fleet originally headed for Isstvan III has been waiting out the warp storms that waylaid them so many months ago. Under the assumed command of Captain Alexis Polux and seemingly forgotten by the rest of the Imperium, they hope yet to complete their mission and report back to their primarch Rogal Dorn, so that they might return to the greater conflict.

This Horus Heresy anthology contains eighteen short stories by authors such as Graham McNeill, Aaron Dembski-Bowden, Nick Kyme, and many more. Also, Chris Wraight’s acclaimed novella Brotherhood of the Storm delves into the nature of the elusive White Scars Legion, and their questionable sense of duty to the Emperor.

After a long and gruelling conflict, the traitors at last close upon Terra. But time is dwindling for an attack. Both Guilliman and the Lion are returning with all haste, and their armies could turn the tide. The hosts of the Warmaster must unite, for only then can they attack the Throneworld itself. While Mortarion is sent on ahead as the fleet’s vanguard, it falls to Lorgar and Perturabo to marshal Fulgrim and Angron, both now elevated to daemonhood and perhaps beyond even the will of the Warmaster to command.

Doom has come upon the Thousand Sons. A plague of fire and dust stalks the Legion across time and space, born from the sorcerous Rubric that saved them from annihilation and damned them for eternity. One by one, the spirits of the Rubricae are vanishing from the prisons of their armour—and one by one, living sorcerers are cursed to take their place. Driven by the obsessive need to save his Legion and find redemption, Ahzek Ahriman seeks the time-altering technology of the forgotten necrons to overwrite his past mistakes.

From the battlefields of Phall and Isstvan, to the haunted shadows of Terra itself - the greatest war in the history of mankind rages on. While the traitor Legions continue their campaign of terror across the galaxy, preparations are made for the defence of the Imperial Palace and the final, inevitable reckoning that must yet come between Horus and the Emperor....

Ahriman languishes on the threshold of space and time, adrift in a sub-realm of unknowable dimension and aspect. He has found it at long last: the ancient device known to the necrons as the Key of Infinity. This should be his moment of triumph – but he is not the Ahriman he used to be. Betrayed and lost, he is a solitary sorcerer, bereft of allies, standing amongst the smashed and ruined ephemera of his grand designs.

The galaxy burns at Horus' command, and a billion more lives are lost with each passing moment - though it was not always so. Once, the title of Warmaster stood for honour, loyalty and a fierce pride in the strength of the Space Marine Legions. But perhaps by following the myriad lines of destiny and defiance that were already woven around the primarchs and their sons, we may yet come to understand the bitterness that can eat away at even the most steadfast of souls....

While loyalist and traitor forces clash on a thousand battlefields across the galaxy, a very different kind of war is being fought in the shadows - a war of subtlety and subterfuge, unknown to many, but one that surely holds the key to victory for either side. Rogal Dorn and his Legion prepare to defend the Solar System against the armies of Warmaster Horus, even as Malcador the Sigillite charges his many agents and spies with missions of the utmost secrecy. The future of the Imperium is being shaped by unseen hands....

Cado Ezechiar is a wanderer who has outlived the memory of the age that made him. A Soulblight vampire who accepted the curse as his people and kingdom fell to Chaos, he now roams the Realm of Death and beyond seeking retribution and salvation for the ones he failed. Aided by the bound spirits of those he lost, Cado follows a path of revenge, hunting the servants of Chaos to slake his need for blood while seeking the Sorcerer of Change who destroyed his kingdom.

This collection includes 'Chosen of Khorne' by Anthony Reynolds, 'Throne of Lies' by Aaron-Dembski Bowden, 'Perfection' by Nick Kyme, 'Ahriman: The First Prince' by John French, 'Repairer of Ruin' by Josh Reynolds, and 'The Embrace of Pain' by Ian St Martin.

The Great Crusade is ending. The Emperor has returned to Terra, while Horus remains among the stars to complete the unification of humanity. As the Imperial armies fight the final battles of the age, Remembrancer Solomon Voss seeks the answer to one question—why does Sigismund, First Captain of the Imperial Fists and greatest champion of the Legions, believe that war will not end? Granted a rare audience with the master of the Templars, the answer takes Voss on a revelatory journey to a time before Sigismund became a Space Marine.

War rages in the Caradryad Sector. Worlds are falling to madness and rebellion, and the great war machine of the Imperium is moving to counter the threat. Amongst its agents is Inquisitor Covenant. Puritan, psyker, expert swordsman, he reserves an especial hatred for those of his order who would seek to harness the power of Ruin as a weapon. Summoned to an inquisitorial conclave, Covenant believes he has uncovered such a misguided agent and prepares to denounce the heretic Talicto before his fellows.

Learn more about legendary characters from the ranks of the xenos and the Traitor Astartes, including Ahriman of the Thousand Sons, Fabius Bile of the Emperor's Children, Asurmen of the Craftworld Aeldari and more. Explore these fan-favourite characters as written by Black Library stalwarts including Aaron Dembski-Bowden, John French and Guy Haley.

As one of the many staging grounds for the forces serving in the Great Crusade, the verdant world of Tallarn has long served as a transfer point for the personnel and war machines of the Imperial Army. Now, destroyed by a deadly virus-bomb attack launched by the battered Iron Warriors fleet, the entire world is reduced to a toxic wasteland where the survivors must fight to defend what little remains of their home.

As an agent of the Throne, former soldier Ianthe serves Inquisitor Covenant and faces some of the most dangerous and insidious threats the galaxy has to offer. On the hunt for the rogue psyker Silas Norn, Ianthe and her associates run afoul of the Imperial authorities and are imprisoned. Norn too is captured and incarcerated, but with the ability to manipulate the minds of his victims he is far from easy quarry. To stop him, Ianthe must not only find him; she must overcome the buried ghosts of her hidden past.

The Chambers Militant of the Inquisition fight their battles against heretics, xenos and daemons. These audio dramas shed new light on these dark missions of critical importance to humanity’s survival. Those of the Imperial Inquisition consider themselves all that stands between the Imperium of Mankind and the Ruinous Powers - it's a demanding occupation that can occasionally lead them to make some morally ambiguous decisions. Get inside the heads of some of the Imperium's most intense civil servants with this collection of thrilling - and intriguing - audio dramas.